Cornwall villagers concerned over Duchy mining rights

Posted: 20/03/2012

Talskiddy is a small, historic village set in Cornwall near St Colymb and its residents were given a shock when they received a letter from the Land Registry, informing them that their village is under threat because of Duchy of Cornwall’s mining rights. The letter informed Talskiddy residents that the Prince of Wales’s estate has decided to register the mining rights where their homes are as the area is rich in metals. The village of Talskiddy is set in a tin mining area along with other rare metals that have been recently discovered including Indium which is used in Apple products such as the iPad and iPod.

The villagers are worried that their house prices will plummet due to the mining threat and there have been complaints against the land and mining searches carried out when the residents bought their properties. Keith Lipscomb, who lives in Talskiddy spoke to the BBC about his concerns, ‘I knew nothing whatsoever about this when I bought the property, nothing came up on land searches or mining searches and has not been known to any of my neighbours either.’

A spokeman told the Telegraph, "This does not mean that the Duchy has any intention at this time to work the minerals. The Duchy has owned these mineral rights for many centuries - it is simply a case of the Duchy registering its existing rights.’ The reason why this has suddenly been unearthed is because the new law being enforced by the Land Registry will require all these rights to be registered by October 2013. If you would you like to know more about the Duchy of Cornwall please read below.

About the Duchy of Cornwall

There are two Duchies in England, one being the Duchy of Lancaster and the second the Duchy of Cornwall. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy title, Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth but if the monarch has no son, the estate of the duchy are held by the crown. The current duke is Charles, Prince of Wales. The Duchy of Cornwall is a privately managed estate which was created in 1337 by the former Earldom of Cornwall, Edwards lll to provide an income for his heir and the tradition continues today. The Duchy consists of 54,628 hectares of land in 23 counties which adds up to 2% of the county of Cornwall and the assets are generated by income tax and the turnover of tenants is very low and vacancies are relatively rare. Charles, Prince of Wales is the 24th Duke of Cornwall and one of the longest serving Duke celebrating his fifty year milestone as Duke in 2002. Under the 1337 charter, The Prince of Wales is not entitled to the proceeds of profit of the sale of the assets. Most of the income from the Duchy derives from financial investments and it goes into two titles, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall which are both held by Charles, Prince of Wales but are nevertheless distinct. The Duke chooses to use a large proportion of the income from the Duchy to meet the cost of his public and charitable work which includes the private activities of Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Prince Harry. The successive Governments have concluded that the Duchy is an appropriate source of private income for the Monarchy and the principle reason for the Duchy is to sustain the commercial management of its land and properties. When the current Prince of Wales succeeds the throne, Prince William will become the next Duke of Cornwall.

Pali offer a wide varierty of conveyancing searches including a mining search and you can read more about our searches on our Services page.